


Where Were You When My Heart Ached?

by smoothpeachbutt



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Characters will eventually grow up, Claudeleth, Dimiclaudeleth, Drama & Romance, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Love Triangles, Pre and Post-Timeskip, Puppy Love, Teenagers, Young Love, dimileth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29578335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoothpeachbutt/pseuds/smoothpeachbutt
Summary: Claude and Byleth are the most inseparable of friends, going through everyday as carefree teenagers. But on the eve of the Millennium Festival, their budding romance is disrupted by forces out of their control, shattering their lives as they know it.Years later, Byleth meets Dimitri who turns her life around. However, her peace is disturbed by the return of a changed man, one who is relentless and willing to do anything to get her back.----------------A Modern, Friends to Lovers to Strangers to... Lovers(??) AU.Fluff, Drama, Romance, Intrigue and eventual Sexual Relationships. :) Tags & Ratings will be updated as we go along!
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth, My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	Where Were You When My Heart Ached?

**Author's Note:**

> Trying something new for a change. Of course--still with one of my favorite OTPs, but now in a modern, free and easy setting... for now :)

_It always starts the same way._

_A figure, unrecognizable, lying face down on the ground in front of her. Everything is black and white, save for a pool of thick, red liquid seeping from the middle of the mass and flowing towards her. She looks down to her bare feet to see it getting engulfed in the red liquid, rising all the way up to her ankles._

_In disgust and confusion, she starts to step backwards, moving away from the gore. But after a few strides the back of her legs hit a solid edge, prompting her to turn and discover the blockage—a raised platform with a long horizontal box covered with a white sheet, with the same red liquid flowing from underneath the fabric. Out of curiosity, she gulps and moves toward the box, hands reaching for the red-stained fabric to reveal what belongs underneath. She only lifts it an inch, and suddenly a pale, white hand drops from underneath, seemingly lifeless and dripping with the same thick red liquid._

_A strong smell and aura of death emanates from the entire mass, causing her to stumble backwards from shock, falling on her behind. The same red liquid from moments back has now covered the entire floor, enveloping her legs and hands that had supported her fall. Although she tries to get up, the liquid thickens and rises so quickly that she starts to sink, as if being sucked into a tar pit. With every motion of her arms to try and lift herself, she sinks further, and soon the pool of red reaches her neck, leaving her to strain upwards to keep her head afloat. At the final moment when the liquid rises to her mouth, she suddenly drops and falls into an abyss that is absent of the red liquid, yet instead replaced with flashing red and blue lights and loud beeping sounds, both of which threaten to impale her mind from the epileptic occurrence._

_In a few moments she finally hits the ground, although softly and on her feet. The lights and sounds dissipate into a sudden state of pure blackness, causing her to look around in confusion. She spots a figure in the distance—this time with a clearer form of a man’s back. She starts to instinctively walk towards the figure, squinting her eyes to get clarity on his identity. Soon she makes out the outline of messy dark hair and a stud earring on the figure’s right ear, both of which feel strangely familiar._

_She is now just two meters away when suddenly a white light emanates from behind the man. The light starts to grow in size and brightness, that she stops in her tracks and raises her hands to shield her eyes.  
When the figure starts to walk towards the light, her mind turns on a switch, and she immediately finds an urge to call out for the man and reach her hands towards him. She takes a few steps forward and opens her mouth to produce a name…and discovers that she can’t. Although the urge to say the word is present, her voice is absent despite the strain coming from her core and her throat. _

_Suddenly the man stops in his tracks, and she pauses in anticipation for him to reveal himself as he slowly turns his head in her direction. He only turns halfway, giving her just the side profile of his face—a chiseled jaw, a sharp nose, and a bright green eye that looks towards her, solemnly. She freezes in place as a feeling of dread and sorrow overcome her whole body. Although she reaches her hand out for the man a final time, he turns back towards the light, walking forward and finally letting the white emptiness erase him from view._

It was at that moment that Byleth woke with a loud gasp, her pulse racing and sweat flowing from her forehead, chest and back. Tears started to flow from her dark blue eyes, staining her shirt. She shivered and trembled from her nightly dream, one that she’s had for far too long and knew too much by heart.

And yet, despite the frequency, she couldn’t make out the meaning of the nightmare, and simply ended up shivering and in tears, with the eventual regret from the inability to remember what she was supposed to call out at the end of it.

Byleth continued to space out for the rest of the night—or early morning—, as if still clinging unto the dark remnants of her nightmare. Soon sunlight started to seep through the curtains, illuminating her simple and tidy room to signal the start of the day. What pulled Byleth from her trance was a chime from her phone, causing her to blink and shake out of her daze. She pressed on her swollen eyes and tried to wipe away the crustiness from her dried-up tears, finally reaching for her phone from the nightstand.

_“Good morning By!!! Here’s your daily wake-up call!”_

Another chime.

_“Please tell me you’re awake.”_

Shortly followed by another, this time a photo of her messy-haired, green-eyed best friend holding up a white ceramic bottle of what was presumably an alcoholic drink. The photo was accompanied with another text.

_“You know what today is. 😊”_

Finally, another chime in less than half a second.

_“Pick you up in half an hour.”_

__Rolling her eyes with a single chuckle, Byleth closed her phone and looked towards the growing sunrise from her window. She took a deep breath and exhaled in the form of a sigh, ending the cycle with a small smile. Byleth slowly found peace with the sound of a few chirps of distant birds. She gripped her phone and pressed it against her chest, thanking the goddess for her daily savior from the darkness.  
That was all she needed to start her day._ _

__\------- ---------- ---------_ _

“Come on By, you’re always bailing on me every year!”

Byleth heaved a long sigh and closed her books. She reached for her bag under her seat and started returning her stuff, in the same way that the other students were packing up after their last class for the day. At the exact moment that their teacher had dismissed them, Byleth’s curly-haired friend had bolted from his seat to her desk, complaining under hushed tones. His hands were situated on top of Byleth’s history textbook to stop her from ignoring him.

“I’m not letting your next best friend, Mr. History Year 4B go until you answer me”, Claude said firmly, his green-eyed gaze locked intently on Byleth’s annoyed face. Single eyebrow raised and the ends of his mouth curved slightly upward, Claude lifted the book from the table, waving it away from Byleth’s reach as if she were a baby denied a rattle.

Rolling her eyes, Byleth stood from her chair, swiped the book from Claude and used the same to smack him on the head lightly. This she did in one swift movement, and the boy winced and rubbed his head, laughing as there was no real pain. In truth, Byleth was never really annoyed at her comical best friend of almost 12 years. She actually welcomed his antics and carefree nature as it always left her in a light and pleasant mood. Sometimes, she wondered how Claude could have kept up with her unfeeling, slightly cold personality; he was a ray of warm sunlight, and she, a quiet, seemingly disinterested introvert.

As Byleth thought this, other classmates were starting to approach Claude to greet their charismatic student body president, some holding out small wrapped boxes that were being offered to him shyly and with many giggles. Claude was suddenly surrounded, cutting a divide between him and Byleth, the latter being pushed away by the crowd to get to the most popular kid in school. Byleth rolled her eyes once more. She picked up her bag and started for the door.

Although Claude was still surrounded, he felt the presence of his best friend disappear from his immediate area. He craned his head upward and over the heads of his classmates to find that she had already left. As Claude internally panicked, he picked up his bag and gifts, thanked and bid adieu to the students, and fought his way through the thick crowd to rush out the door. He ran to find Byleth, who was always so fast and quiet that she had already gotten a few meters head start and was heading down the stairs.

“You didn’t wait for me, By”, Claude panted, very much sounding disappointed and let down. Byleth gulped slightly and shifted her eyes away, because she knew if she had to look at his face, she’d feel as upset to see his warmth go away. She realized she wasn’t being a good friend by evading him all day, despite how he had waited for her late ass when he picked her up from her home this morning… even if it was his _special_ day.

In fact, ever since they became friends, Claude had been picking her up and walking her back home every single day, without fail. Whether Claude had baseball and student body meetings, or Byleth with her multiple part-time jobs, Claude would meet her after and walk her back to her family’s old wooden cottage, where they’d spend the rest of the evening studying or chilling the night away. Even if it were on weekends or holidays that had no reason to walk to school together, the pair usually spent the day in each other’s presence. He’d still show up at her place with a new DVD, or bring over some takeout from a random ramen shop…and still proceed to watch DVDs, truly their favorite pastime. There were moments that Byleth wondered why he was always sticking to her despite all the friends he had, but nothing had really happened between them in the past twelve years. Thus, she had shrugged off any possibilities of being anything further than friends.

“You’ll be late to your game and I have to get to Mr. Victor’s.” Byleth calmly replied instead, and she continued to brisk-walk without looking at Claude. The boy grunted and sprinted right in front of Byleth, halting her movement and finally letting her face him.

“You still haven’t answered me, my friend” he started, commanding attention. “Please come with me tonight to the summer festival? We’ve been planning this the whole week.”

Claude had his signature glassy eyes and puppy dog pout that melted most people into submission. It was one of his most charming tactics, and although it didn’t usually work on Byleth, she felt like being pulled into a trance today.

“Claude, I already told you—I have to watch over Mom since Dad’s always on duty during these festivals.” Byleth looked away again to avoid falling into the ‘von Riegan gaze’.

“But you haven’t really asked either of them, right?” Claude shifted towards her angle so that she could see his pleading face. “C’mon, I’ll even ask them later when we get to your place. I’m sure your mom wouldn’t want her daughter’s only friend to be alone today. I’ll even kowtow to Captain Jeralt if you’d like!”

Byleth rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. She raised her hand and waved him off. “All right, fine. Let’s see you try.”

The curly-haired boy lit up instantly and treated her reply as if she’d already said yes. “Perfect!!! Thank you, my friend!” Claude used his free arm to pull Byleth into an embrace. The sudden maneuver caught Byleth a little off guard, but mostly confused at why her heart had started to beat faster than usual. She pulled away immediately when her sensibility kicked in, realizing the time.

“Ok Claude, now you’re really late for your meet with Hoshido High!” she exclaimed, pushing him towards the end of the ground floor hallway, towards the double-doors leading out to the sporting grounds.

Claude laughed as they both picked up the pace across the quad, towards the baseball field where the members of the Garreg Mach Academy Men’s Baseball team were pooling together, already fully dressed in uniform. Opposite the field was a clump of red-adorned teenagers from the visiting school, also grouped together in a huddle.

“Shit, they’re already there.” Byleth gasped, as they finally reached the metal gate leading to the pit.

“Don’t worry, they won’t start without me.” Claude grinned back to her cheekily, flashing his confidence as the team’s star player.

“Or Coach Alois won’t let you play at all, considering you haven’t even dressed. Now give me your stuff—I’ll put them in your locker.”

Claude let out an embarrassed chuckle, then handed over his backpack and the random boxes and wrapped gifts that were given to him earlier by his classmates. “Thanks By. You’re always saving me.”

_If you only knew how you save me every morning from my nightmares_ , Byleth had wanted to say, but she proceeded to sling his bag over her shoulder and gather all his other belongings. She was about to turn for the opposite direction but Claude held onto her wrist to pull her back.

“Wish you could watch me in this game too, though.”

Time strangely felt like it had stopped in that moment, with Claude gazing into her eyes with deep longing. They’d always part ways for their separate post-curricular activities, but today, Claude was being extra needy. And for some reason, Byleth found her body involuntarily leaning into his grasp, wanting to be pulled in and accept his invitation—one that felt like it had an underlying message that didn’t really involve any baseball.

Once again Byleth’s senses came to. She peeked over his shoulder and spotted the usually cheery Coach Alois standing a few meters back, now getting red and angry seeing how their missing pitcher had just arrived. She pursed her lips together and hurriedly replied to her friend. “Choose one. This or the festival.”

“Haha, can’t blame a guy for trying.” Claude put up his hands in defeat. “Hey, but really—pick you up later at Mr. Victor’s? 5 PM?”

“Yes, now go Claude. Goodluck.”

Claude mouthed a thank you as he turned to run towards his angry teammates. He scratched the back of his head while apologizing and grabbed his jersey to change. Byleth watched from the gate as he pulled off his black school uniform, soon exposing his tanned skin, broad shoulders, and toned chest and abs. This wasn’t Byleth’s first time to see her best friend topless, and she didn’t know why she suddenly felt heady seeing his strong and extremely appealing frame. It’s as if she was noticing the sexy V-cut by his pelvis for the first time, or how his skin glistened under the sunlight like smooth chocolate…

Chocolate?? Why were these thoughts entering her mind all of a sudden? She shook her head and turned around, leaving for the lockers. _Stupid heat_ … she thought, blaming the summer sun rays for her very random, confusing thoughts. Unbeknownst to Byleth, Claude had seen his friend from the corner of his eye, and smirked as he saw her retreat, flushed pink and embarrassed.

\------- ------- -------

Byleth clasped her hands together and stretched her arms upwards. “Good job, Ignatz. I’ll be honest, that chapter on the history of the Ten Elites was a pretty long one, and yet you got all the answers.”

“Thank you, Teacher Byleth. I couldn’t have done it without your guidance”, said the young boy with a weird but age-appropriate bowl-cut hairstyle. Byleth’s part time job as a grade school tutor was with ten-year-old Ignatz Victor today, the son of a well-to-do merchant family who owned a couple of stores in Remire. Ignatz was first introduced to Byleth early last year when the patriarch and store owner Mr. Victor offered her another means to make more money, aside from the part-time work she was already doing at his convenience store. Although Ignatz was already very bright, Mr. Victor’s real agenda was to give his awkward and extremely shy kid a friend, and seeing how Byleth was great with customers, seemingly strapped for cash, and anyways quite intelligent, he offered her the job. Byleth was apprehensive at first, but soon word of her success with Ignatz spread around town and she got more clients to keep her busy.

Byleth’s favorite was Ignatz, given how he was very pleasant and easy to work with. At the same time, he was perhaps already smarter than her, making their sessions a lot easier, as compared to the lazy and sleepy von Hevring boy, or the proud and always presumptuous kid from the von Ordelia family. She observed how Ignatz was now more open with her, and not afraid to communicate and share stories of his new friends at school. She realized that was the true progress, and was very happy that she could help him come out of his shell.

The grandfather clock from the ground floor of their home wrung the five o’clock bell, which prompted Byleth to start packing her things. She remembered that Claude would pick her up at the promised hour and wondered if he was already downstairs. “I guess that’s all for today Ignatz. You’ve done a really great job and I’m sure you’ll ace your test tomorrow.”

“I’m confident too, Teacher Byleth. History’s my favorite subject… as much as art”, the boy said sheepishly at the mention of his painting hobby.

“Oh yeah, how did your art contest go? Wasn’t that last month?” Byleth asked, putting on her coat and heading for the door. Ignatz politely opened the door for her and both headed for the stairs.

“Yup and I won! Dad made copies of my painting to sell together with our different frames. Do you want to see in the shop?”

Ignatz was referring to the small antique store that was situated on the base level of their house, which was the Victor family’s first-ever business in Remire. Upon landing at the foot of the stairs, the eager young boy led Byleth to a smaller hallway that opened up to the store. An old lady with red hair—Ignatz’s grandmother—was situated at the counter, reading a newspaper. She smiled as the two entered, and Ignatz went to greet her.

“Oh, you’re here today, Byleth. Just finished your lessons?” she spoke quietly, with a grin from cheek to cheek. Byleth half-bowed to the elder and smiled back.

“Yes, Nana. Ignatz knew the chapter much better than I did and that’s why we finished so fast.”  
Anna Victor, or ‘Nana’ as she was fondly called by most of the townspeople, patted her grandson on the head, proud and pleased with his progress.

“My, that’s because you’re so good with him, Byleth. Say, isn’t Claude coming to pick you up yet?”  
Byleth glanced at the majestic grandfather clock across from her, saw it was already ten minutes past 5pm, and wondered to herself if something had happened. “He’s probably still finishing the big game against Hoshido High. I’ll just go ahead so that I don’t take much of your time…” Byleth replied, starting to turn for the door.

“Nonsense, just wait here since it’s about to get dark. Oh, isn’t today his…”

Ignatz jumped up excitedly. “Oh yeah! Claude was so excited for it because today’s also the summer festival down by the Goddess Tower!”

As the two chatted excitedly, Byleth suddenly realized that she was missing something very important. Her mind ran back to earlier at school when their classmates had crowded Claude, greeting and handing him wrapped boxes and parcels. As if reading her mind, Nana turned to Byleth and seemingly caught her red-handed. “I’m sure you already have a wonderful present for him, Byleth.”

Byleth scratched the back of her head. “Actually, I don’t…” she started. “I haven’t had the chance to get one this week.”

At her confession, Nana gasped, but the youngest Victor seemed to have a lightbulb moment as his eyes brightened and glowed. “Teacher Byleth, you can just look around here! Claude likes this stuff, right?”

The boy spoke of truth: the quaint and cozy little shop was definitely one of Claude’s favorite haunts, as he would find random curios or old novels that he would collect. Byleth turned her head left and right, quickly scanning if there was something else that Claude didn’t have yet. Nana noticed her slight despair and instead bent down behind the counter. She slowly lifted a flat and wide glass box and placed it on the countertop. “Perhaps something different from this set of curious little things?” she said with a smile, raising the glass lid of the display case.

Byleth peered into the box and saw rows and rows of well-polished miniature antiques, glittering in different hues of gold, silver and jewel tones. There were exquisitely intricate pearl brooches, chains of different lengths, a small gold windpipe with intricate markings, and even the tiny silver spoons with gemstone inlays on the handles. Byleth had no real fascination for these kinds of collectibles, but she found herself quite awestruck at the beautiful collection of knicks and knacks. However, she soon zoomed in on a single, silver hoop earring that was placed right in the center of the box.

Reaching out to examine it further, Byleth saw that the main hoop was about the size of her thumbnail, and from it dangled three smaller hoops. The earring wasn’t anything particularly special, as it looked like a plain piece of metal that was out of place amidst the precious stones and jewels in the box. But Byleth felt drawn to the piece not for its beauty, rather for its strange familiarity.

“That’s an old but historic little hoop there”, Nana started, smiling with content. “Apparently it was owned by a great king who freed the oppressed, and successfully unified our beautiful Fodlan a millennium ago. I’ve had that with me ever since I was a young girl, as it was a treasure found by my own grandmother.”

Byleth and Ignatz were both listening intently at the backstory of the precious item, wondering how something so simple had so much value. “They say that the other half of the earring pair was given to his wife, as a symbol of his love. And legend has it that his wife was actually the Goddess living in a human body.”

Teacher and student were so drawn to the story that Nana suddenly stopped and giggled. “…Or that’s what my grandparents used to say. For all we know it’s just a piece of regular silver!”

Ignatz frowned at the possibility of the joke, but Byleth continued to stare blankly at the piece. She couldn’t determine what was drawing her to the earring, but in a quick second she handed the earring to Nana to seal the deal. “I’ll get it. How much is it?”

Although Nana was initially confused, she took Byleth’s open palm and closed it with her own. She gave a knowing and meaningful smile. “Nothing, my dear. Let me share this treasure with you.”

Immediately Nana produced a small leather drawstring pouch from a drawer and dropped the earring inside. She placed it back on Byleth’s palm and nodded approvingly.

Before Byleth could retort, the shop’s front door swung open and in came its best customer. “Sorry I’m late, By! I’m here!!!” Claude exclaimed. At the sound of his voice, Byleth quickly shoved the pouch in her pocket and turned to greet her friend, albeit a little skittishly.

Claude was sweating and still in his baseball jersey, which had dirt stains on the front and pants. “I’m sorry I took so long…”, he huffed, panting from what seemed like a sprint to the shop to make it in time. “I had to run back to my place so I could bring this bad boy.” He raised a thin, elongated bag towards Byleth, the latter already with an idea on the contents of it, which he had been boasting about for the whole week. Claude then noticed the two Victors from the counter and waved to say hello.

“How are you doing Nana and Specs? Did Teach here give you all a hard time while I was gone?”

The two had started giggling behind Byleth, partly because of Claude’s pet name for her as a tutor, as well as the secret they were both keeping for the blue-haired female. Before she could risk them spoiling her earlier purchase, she ran towards Claude to turn and face him back out to the street.

“You’re already late and yet you’re still wasting their time,” she said with some fake annoyance. Before completely stepping out of the doorframe, she turned her head towards the shop owners to mouth a ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’. The Victors waved goodbye in unison, winking to show their support for the young pair, and ultimately wishing them a night they would never forget.

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually the first fic that I've ever written for the fandom, but held back posting (in favor of smut explorations LOLOLOL).  
> It feels liberating to write in a modern setting, and I can't wait to share with you the deeper story I have in mind for Byleth, Claude, and eventually Dimitri. I hope I've captured your interest and will pray you continue to stay with me for this longfic. :)
> 
> Please do leave comments or feedback, and if you'd like you can hit me up on Twitter @smoothpeachbutt too! :)


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